More than 50 students and staff attended Jeannie Mai’s “How Do I Look?” Style Network designer challenge held at Cal State Long Beach Tuesday.
Approximately 22 design students presented to a panel consisting of three Mai stylists and assistants, who judged the students based on samples of some of their designs, portfolio and speech on what inspired their designs and what made them perfect for the job to style Mai.
“It was great to see how the designers took Jeannie’s style and incorporated it to their designs,” Jed Shireman, assistant to Mai said. “I am excited to see where we go from here.”
“I was really impressed how the students presented themselves,” said Suzanne Marshall, fashion merchandising program director. “They didn’t have much lead time. We were at Magic in Las Vegas when I got the e-mail from Mai’s camp that they wanted to do this.”
Jacqlene Corbin, a junior design student, presented a two-piece outfit, which consisted of a plaid top with a high collar and puff sleeves, with a pencil skirt. The blouse had large round gold buttons that went down the center of the back.
“I like some kind of surprise in the back,” Corbin said. “I am really into the retro look and the movie ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ is the movie that has inspired my looks and designs.”
Design student Linh Nguyen said her inspiration came from people’s lifestyles. She said her outfits were a take on a day and night dress. Nguyen presented a black and silver long-sleeved mini dress and a three-piece ensemble of a ruffled black vest, floral pattern blouse and wool blend dress shorts.
“I want to design for the age group of 18-25 year old, and I would love to design for Christian Stewart,” Nguyen said.
Walter Mendez, design student, said he gets a lot of inspiration from women he sees on the streets and real people.
“My textiles get inspiration from my travels,” Mendez said. “I could see someone like Eva Longoria wearing my dress. It is simple, but it still catches one’s eye.”
Mendez presented two dresses to the panel.
The first was a grey and black print long strapless dress with an empire waistline. The second had a white top half with a short skirt and a print that represented the colors of the male peacock tail.
After the students presented their work, Bory Tan, Mai’s personal stylist, answered students’ questions about the industry and her work with Mai.
“You have to know how to market yourself and know the business,” Tan said.
When it comes to working as a stylist, Tan said the most difficult part is finding your clients and the corporation’s medium.
“Most of the time I become the mediator,” Tan said. “At the end of the day, I have to make sure [Mai] looks presentable and appropriate for the network.”
The event consisted of 60 percent seniors and 40 percent juniors.
Mai will contact students within the next few days, approximately, if they are chosen to move forward in the competition.
The winner of the competition will next have to design an outfit for Mai to wear during the taping of “How Do I Look?” receive mentions on her blog Iheartjeanniemai.com, on the Style Network’s page mystyle.com and a tape of the episode to add to their portfolio.
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